Sink

“ In one of the rooms was a sink with city water. The water had been turned on full, and the sink-holes stopped up with putty. The sink had overflowed, and the water was running through several cracks in the floor. ”

“ In its place, we have at one side of the kitchen, a sink, with cocks for hot and cold water immediately over it. The tables and drain-board are arranged to simplify the operations of dish-washing. The water, instead of being carried to the yard or alley, finds its way naturally into the drain through the sink. Modern laundry arrangements make it unnecessary to carry great tubs of water outside, or to delay wash-day on account of the weather, or to bring in the frozen clothes during the cold winter days. The bath-room, with the tub, the water-closet, and the wash-stand, is on the second floor. ”

“ You could feel the boat sink, sink,--down, down,--would it never get to the bottom? The water came flush up to the lower deck, and then,--thank heaven,--the sinking stopped and there was the Mariposa Belle safe and tight on a reed bank.
Really, it made one positively laugh! It seemed so queer and, anyway, if a man has a sort of natural courage, danger makes him laugh. Danger! pshaw! fiddlesticks! everybody scouted the idea. Why, it is just the little things like this that give zest to a day on the water. ”

“ The same dresser, or a space over the sink, must hold washing-pans for meat and vegetables, dish-pans, tin measures from a gill up to one quart, saucepans, milk-boiler, &c. Below the sink, the closet for iron-ware can be placed, or, if preferred, be between sink and stove. A list in detail of every article required for a comfortably-fitted-up kitchen is given at the end of the book. House-furnishing stores furnish elaborate and confusing ones. The present list is simply what is needed for the most efficient work. ”

“ The sink basket sold by most ironmongers is a very good possession, and acts in much the same way, but the netting does just as well, and should be nailed across the housemaid’s sink about an inch above the bottom, and be erected just above the plug-hole in a lavatory basin, thus saving endless heartburnings, and endless sending for that fearsome creature, the regulation British plumber. There should be no portière inside the bathroom door, but most certainly there should be one outside. ”

“ It is better to step up than to form a crick in one’s back.
However, any plumber will alter the standards, no matter what sink you buy. Sinks are purchasable with from one to four standards, depending upon what space in the kitchen is to harbor said sink.
The standards of sinks are made of glass, brass, nickle plate, or porcelain, or a porcelain coating over metal. Some of these standards are supplied with adjustable bracelets, making it possible to raise and lower the sink [146] to desired levels. The nickle standard is very desirable, as is the brass, but they require cleaning and polishing. ”

“ Every sink should be provided with a suitable screen to keep all large particles out of the waste pipe. An approved form of sink strainer consists of a brass plate bolted in position over the outlet and having at least 37 perforations not larger than one-fourth inch in diameter. Provided a sink is thus equipped and is given proper care and the land has fair slope and drainage, the waste water may be conducted away through a water-tight sewer and distributed in the soil by means of a short blind drain. ”

“ I proceed upon the time-honored experience of physicians that certain malarious diseases prevail most actively in damp spots in houses and villages situated in hollow places or at the foot of slopes, after inundations. A sink is an artificial trough, an artificial flood-region for each house, into which is concentrated the drainage from the roof and from the surrounding ground. ”

“ One beauty of the electric stove is that it produces no ashes; one advantage of the vacuum cleaner is that it does away with dust.
The sink has two compartments—all enameled white—one for the washing of the dishes and one for the draining. In the second is the wire drainer. The sink is placed at the right height for this particular housewife, be she a little treasure done up in a small parcel or a tall stately woman when standing very straight—as every one ought to, whether city or country bred. ”

“ A well-constructed sink is indispensable in a kitchen. Wooden sinks, lined with zinc, sinks made of stoneware, and sinks lined with well-cemented tiles are very serviceable, and easily kept clean. They should never be fixed in out-of-way corners, but should be easy of access for both cleaning and repairing. Whether the sink is in constant use or not, the pipe should be flushed at least once a day with hot soda and water. However some people prefer it excluded from the kitchen.
Every kitchen should be provided with some outlet for the hot foul air which rises to the top of the kitchen. ”

“ Clay Furnishings.—For such articles as the kitchen sink, the bathtub, and other bathroom fittings clay is a satisfactory material. These articles may be modeled by the children, in as good an imitation of the real fittings as they are able to make. Various methods may be used for holding the kitchen sink and the bathroom basin in place, and it is much better for the children to evolve one of their own than to follow the teacher's dictation [Pg 52] from the start. If they meet serious difficulties, a suggestion from her may help clear the way. ”

“ It is well to rinse a basin, sink or tub after it is used, and one must be particular that the closet flushes generously, for the water left in the loop should be clean water. If one merely allows the water from tub or basin to sink through the outlet some of that water remains in the loop, and it is water which contains impurities washed from clothes or bodies. You see the practice of rinsing bathtubs and basins has more in it even than courtesy. ”

“ The Sink.—Do not throw anything but water down the sink, as the pipe is liable to get choked, a state of things which causes both expense and annoyance. At least three times a week pour a pailful of boiling soda water down every trap, for this prevents accumulation of fat, which more often than anything else stops up sink pipes. ”

“ It is cemented the same as the cistern, is generally twenty or twenty-five feet away from the house, and has a four-inch vitrified drain connection with the waste from the kitchen sink or other sink in which greasy water may be deposited. The sink itself has a siphon connection with the main drain or vault, and, being provided with an iron top, the deposit of grease or other material may be removed if necessary. In some instances a sink of this kind is required to be used to collect all solid matter before the drainage connection passes from the property. ”

“ Yuh must have good eyesight, because if you seen Loudon workin' in the middle o' the Sink an' you was standin' where yuh say yuh was, yuh looked through about two miles an' a half o' solid earth. The middle o' the Sink is two hundred feet below the level o' the surrounding country, an' there ain't no high land anywhere near it. Unless yo're standin' right on the edge yuh can't see nothin' in the bottom, an' the Sink is only about a mile from rim to rim. I guess now yo're mistaken, Marvin. ”

“ Every water-closet, urinal, sink, basin, wash-tray, bath, and every tub or set of tubs, must be separately and effectively trapped, except where a sink and wash-tubs immediately adjoin each other, in which case the waste-pipe from the tubs may be connected with the inlet side of the sink-trap ”

“ Next to the stove, the sink is the most important piece of kitchen furniture.
The best sinks are of enamel or are made of porcelain. They have a fine wire drainer so that nothing solid will go into the trap and plug the pipes. The Girl Scout uses boiling water, and plenty of it, to flush the sink. She takes pains that no grease gets into the drain to harden there. When grease is accidentally collected, soda and hot water will wash it away, but it should never collect in the pipes.
The Keeper of the House takes pride in a perfectly clean sink. ”

“ Below, it should continue outside of the foundation wall to connect with the drain. Where there is a sink in the cellar, the soil pipe should be below the cellar floor. Vitrified or earthenware drain pipe should never be used inside the walls of a house.
INSIDE FIXTURES.
The kitchen sink may be considered first. They are usually of light cast-iron. Sometimes they are of pressed steel; again, they are of cast-iron with an interior porcelain finish. If a common cast-iron sink is painted, the paint soon wears off. The ideal sink, the one which is the best in every way, is of porcelain. ”

“ Light and air is admitted in abundance by the large windows in the exterior walls.
There are five sink rooms in each of the four corner towers, making one sink room for each range of fifteen cells; the iron galleries are continued across the corridors to the sink rooms, and each one is fitted up with an enamelled iron hopper and trap, through which the contents of the night pails are discharged into the soil pipes and sewers; there is also an iron sink with a sufficient supply of water. Each sink room has two windows for light and ventilation. ”

“ The kitchen should, of course, be airy and sunny. The sink should be placed near a south window, if possible, to prevent freezing of pipes. An iron sink is more cleanly than a wooden one, and cheaper than porcelain and copper. It should have a platform with room for two dishpans, and a drying shelf, raised at one end to permit drainage. Where economy of space is essential, this shelf may be removable, permitting the use for other things of the table beneath. ”

“ A sink should be scalded out every day, and occasionally with hot ley. On nails, over the sink, should be hung three good dish-cloths, hemmed, and furnished with loops—one for dishes not greasy, one for greasy dishes, and one for washing pots and kettles. ”

“ School-sinks must be of cast-iron, not more than two feet in depth, connected at the upper end with the Croton supply, and at the lower end with a drain leading to the street-sewer, and provided with an outlet at the lowest point and on the bottom so as to admit of a complete discharge of the contents whenever the outlet is opened and the sink flushed with water. ”

“ Thirty or thirty-six is the best. They are provided with a strainer in the bottom, and have one-and-one-half-inch light [Pg 254] lead “S” trap connection with soil pipe or grease sink, subsequently considered. Where city water is at hand, the sink should be supplied through a five-eighths-inch brass or nickel-plated self-closing cock. Where the city water is hard, hot and cold cistern water in addition to city water should be supplied through five-eighths-inch brass or nickel-plated compression cocks. If the hot water is from the public water works, a self-closing cock should be used. ”

“ I felt sure that a sink-hole in the bed of the lagoon was the explanation. The plank I dragged out there was plenty big enough to hold me up. You know a floating cake of soap doesn’t go down the sluice as long as the bathtub is any way near full of water. The plank would have held me easily if Dell hadn’t interfered and torn it from my hands. ”

“ Burners of oil stoves, too, can be immersed in soda and water. About one quart of water and one-quarter pound of soda make a good cleaning solution.
Some Miscellanies
Don’t let any solid foods get into the sink. Always have a good sink strainer. Soda and water is a good cleaner. Flush sink with hot water and clean it at least three times a day. Grease is a forbidden quantity in a sink and should any get in, the hot water flushing will disintegrate it. Warm water and soap, fine powders such as whiting, etc., will keep porcelain sinks in good order. ”

“ There was a small sink in one corner, but the water was cut off. There was absolutely no convenience for washing of all kinds—personal, family, or for culinary purposes—save this sink. [127] Men and women alike must fetch water from the other room, even to wash the "pots." A card on the wall informed the lodgers that they were expected to wash their own. The "pots" were a few enamelled basins, soup-plates, and tea-pots, some very much worse for wear. The sanitary conveniences were out in the yard, and apparently common to both men and women. ”

“ A good quality of white enameled iron sink, of size suitable for a kitchen, with white enameled back and a drainboard on the side, costing $30, is very attractive as an ornament, but it serves no more useful purpose than a $3 sink and a fifty-cent drainboard. ”

“ The sink closet, which contains all the sink soap, swabs and brushes, a real convenience indeed, as is the long and narrow broom closet, for brooms and cleaning materials. Until you have your brooms properly garaged your nerves never will be entirely rested. ”

“ Once or twice each year it was the drainpipe from the sink. The drain, like the pump, was an innovation. Our ancestors had always carried out whatever they couldn’t use or burn, and dumped it on the far edge of the orchard. In a thinly settled community, there is much to be said for this method: you know just where you are. But we had the drain, and occasionally we didn’t know just where we were.
“Coffee grounds,” Jonathan would suggest, with a touch of sternness. ”

“ I can only insist upon every closet being thoroughly ventilated, upon all sink wastes being cut off from the main sewer, and upon all drains which must perforce be carried through the house being laid and bedded in concrete, with man-holes at each end, to sweep them clean from end to end if necessary, for proper traps cutting off all drains directly from the main sewer; that all sink-wastes empty clear over proper traps, and to avoid everywhere any connection with the main drains, whereby sewer-gas can in any way be brought into the house. ”